The hiring of coach Dorival Júnior to lead the Brazilian men’s football team was made official this Wednesday (10) by the Brazilian Football Confederation – CBF.
The team is in sixth place in the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. The coach will be presented at 3 pm (Brasília time) this Thursday (11), at the entity’s headquarters, in Rio de Janeiro, and will grant the first press conference.
Dorival Jr’s departure from São Paulo, with the aim of taking over the Brazilian team, was announced last Sunday (7) by the São Paulo club itself. The coach will replace Fernando Diniz, fired on Friday (5) by Ednaldo Rodrigues, one day after he was reappointed as president of the CBF, following an injunction by Gilmar Mendes, minister of the Federal Supreme Court.
Last year, Dorival Jr won the unprecedented Copa do Brasil title for São Paulo. In 2022, the coach had already stood out at the helm of Flamengo, by rebuilding the team in the middle of the year and winning the Copa do Brasil and the Libertadores.
The Brazilian team’s first commitments under Dorival Jr’s command will be two friendlies at Data Fifa (between March 18 and 16). The match against Spain remains without a set date, but the second game, against England, is scheduled for March 23, at Wembley Stadium, in London.
The clashes will serve as preparation for the Copa América, from June 20th to July 14th, in the United States. At the beginning of June, the team will play two friendlies for the second period of FIFA Date 2024, between June 3rd and 11th (opponents remain undefined).
On September 5, Brazil will return to compete in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The opponent in the eighth round will be Ecuador, currently fifth in the general classification. Five days later, the team faces Paraguay. The country will compete in another four rounds until November 19th.